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Presbyterian  Medical  Missions. 


The  New  Hospital  and  Dispensary  at  Batanga. 


Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

501  Witherspoon  Building.  Philadelphia. 


HOSPITAL  WORK  IN  AFRICA. 


By  V.  F.  Penrose. 

Hufferiny  onet  have  to  be  sent  away 
with  these  words  : ‘ We  can  do  noth- 
iny  for  you.’  Where  are  the  doctors, 
men  and  women,  of  the  various  medi- 
cal colleyes  f Tryiny  to  yet  a fete 
cases  at  home  while  dozens  are  ready 
here  to  take  them  up  f Africa  mau 
not  have  a yreat  name  to  offer  their  ambition,  but  they 
miyht  receive  many  a yrateful  ‘ Thank  you  ’ from  a 
radiant  face.'’ 

So  Miss  Christensen  wrote  from  Benito.  She  had 
been  asked  to  visit  a sick  man  who  had  come  down  in  a 
canoe  from  Bata,  but  was  unable  to  walk.  When  she 
hesitated,  for  time  was  very  precious,  two  old  women 
volunteered  to  carry  him  over  to  her,  but  their  own 
broken  down  bodies  made  her  refuse  this.  She  promised 
them  to  go  as  soon  as  the  tide  was  good.  I'he  man  was 
very  ill,  and  it  was  “ not  an  easy  matter  to  handle  such 
terrible  sores  as  his  ; but  some  one  must  do  it.  A woman 
whom  I treated  a year  ago  was  here  last  communion.  * * * 
One  of  my  other  sick  ones  is  a Christian,  and  very 


patient.”  Being  without  doctors  or  a hospital,  Miss 
Christensen  felt  obliged  to  do  whatever  she  could  for  the 
sick  about  her. 

Dr.  Nassau’s  experience  in  Africa  is  a “powerful 
argument  in  behalf  of  medical  training  as  an  important 
part  of  missionary  equipment.”  He  says,  “ I regard 
medical  knowledge  as  almost  indispensable,  for  the  sake 
of  the  missionaries  themselves,  if  for  no  other  reason.” 


“African  Medicine  Man.” 


What  is  to  be  expected  of  West  African  doctors? 
The  native  priests  are  also  doctors.  Probably  they  have 
some  drugs  of  medicinal  value,  but  they  think  the  drug  is 
efficient  only  because  of  the  spirit  they  associate  with  it, 
which,  entering  the  sick  person,  drives  out  the  evil  spirit. 


Old  Hospital  at  Bantanga. 


They  use  barks  and  leaves  that  certainly  have  medicinal 
value,  but  to  no  stranger  will  they  tell  from  what  tree  they 
are  to  be  obtained. 

Surgery  is  most  needed  there,  for  of  that  they 
know  nothing,  nor  of  amputation  nor  the  setting  of  a 
bone.  The  natives  have  frightful  abscesses  which  ought 
to  be  opened  but  their  doctors  do  not  know  where 
to  cut.  For  a man  who  had  accidentally  been  shot  in  the 
breast  it  was  decided  that  the  bullet  should  be  extracted. 
The  native  doctor  “made  a perpendicular  incision  in  the 
man’s  chest,  extending  down  to  the  last  rib,  and  then  he 
cut  diagonally  across  and  actually  lifted  the  walls  of  the 
chest  and  groped  among  the  vitals  for  the  ball.  He  got 
it.  But  here  his  surgery  failed,  for  he  sent  the  man  to  me 
to  be  sewed  up.  But  the  patient  was  dead  !”  This  is  one 
of  Dr.  Nassau’s  experiences  in  his  forty  years  in  Africa. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  has  a dispensary  at  Benito, 
where  Mrs.  Reutlinger  and  Miss  Christensen  dispense 
medicines,  there  being  no  doctor  at  the  station.  The 
patients  pay  in  part  for  the  drugs,  or  if  they  can,  for  the 
whole. 

At  Batanga,  which  is  a centre  of  work  and  a gateway 
to  the  interior,  the  natives  built  a hut,  called  hospital  by 
courtesy,  which  has  been  replaced  by  a building  with  twenty- 
four  beds,  and  its  great  pride  is  a cement  floor.  Those 
who  know  of  the  insect-life  of  Africa,  and  of  native  man- 
ners and  customs,  will  appreciate  what  this  floor  means  to 
the  doctor  in  charge.  A native  boy,  Nkumbwe,  has  been 
trained  for  several  years  as  assistant  and  he  is  really 


quite  a good  physician.  Dr.  R.  M.  Johnston  has 
charge. 

At  Efulen  is  another  small  hospital  where  Dr.  Silas 
F.  Johnson  had  command  until  April  of  1901.  This  hos- 
pital cost  $25.00.  The  medical  work  here  is  slowly 
gaining  ground. 

At  Elat,  Dr.  A.  B.  T.  Lippert  treated  700  patients  in 
his  little  hospital,  seven  a day  being  the  average.  His 
out-patients  numbered  2244.  He  gave  68  treatments  to 
white  traders;  30  to  soldiers,  and  119  to  missionaries.  He 
received  $170.01.  Is  not  that  a good  rate  of  interest  on 
the  value  of  the  little  $25.00  hospital? 

Dr.  VV.  S.  Lehman  has  had  a dispensary  at  Lolodort 
and  has  now  a room  for  hospital.  In  ten  months  he  had 
2370  visits  to  the  dispensary,  which  included  school-boys, 
workmen,  passing  carriers,  some  people  from  a distance 
and  some  from  neighboring  towns.  Lolodorf  is  a German 
Government  Station,  and  white  men  of  the  Government 
and  of  the  factories  have  paid  in  more  than  $200.00  for  his 
7 1 visits.  This  money  helps  the  medical  fund  and  does 
not  constitute  any  part  of  a medical  missionary’s  salary. 
Dr.  Lehman  does  not  encourage  these  visits,  but  as  the 
only  physician  in  the  region,  he  cannot  refuse.  Some 
think  a medical  missionary  should  treat  natives  only. 
Certainly  in  Africa  this  cannot  be. 

Fees  in  Africa  are  paid  in  various  commodities — plan- 
tains, cassava,  chickens,  goats  and  curios  by  the  natives  ; 
articles  of  trade  and  cash  by  the  traders. 

A Congregational  Medical  Missionary  to  East  Africa, 


says:  “It  is  suggested  that  medical  work  may  have  its 
perils  on  the  secular  side.  It  would  seem  to  me  that  if 
there  is  danger  here,  it  must  be  in  the  fact  that  men  who 
are  not  really  consecrated  to  securing  the  highest  good  of 
those  for  whom  they  labor,  may  be  more  liable  to  be  at- 
tracted to  this  than  to  other  departments  of  missionary 
work,  though  it  is  certain  that  this  danger  is  not  confined 
to  this  department  of  the  work.” 

That  a missionary  may  be  in  peril  from  the  secular  side 
of  his  work  is  no  fair  argument  against  the  need  and 
value  of  the  Medical  Missionary,  but  is  a matter  to  be 
guarded  against  in  the  appointment  of  missionaries  in  any 
branch  of  the  Foreign  Work. 

This  medical  work  in  Africa  has  sore  need  of  our  most 
earnest  prayers.  Will  not  each  one  who  reads  this  pray 
daily  for  it  ? 


Price  2 cts.  each,  20  cts.  a dozen. 

0 


Map  of  Africa. 


OTHtR  LEAFLETS 
of  the 

WOMAN  S FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY  OF  TFIE 
PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCFI  ON  AFRICA, 

A Cry  from  the  Congo  (Poetry)  . i ct.  each,  lo  cts.  a doz. 
Bishop  Crowther  (A  Hero)  ...  2“  “ 15  “ “ 

Historical  Sketch 10  cts. 

Question  Book 5 “ 

Illustrated  Program 5 “ per  doz. 

Home  Life  in  Africa 2 “ each,  15  cts.  a doz. 

Lives  Given  for  Africa  . . . . i “ “ 10  “ “ 

Day  and  Boarding  Schools  of  the 

West  Africa  Mission  . . , . 2 cts.  each,  20  cts.  a doz. 


